Method Man Was Also Better in the '90s
I use that title in jest. Method Man is a cool, smart and funny dude, and I suspect that maybe he would enjoy this site if he ever got around to visiting it. But have any of you heard about the interview he recently did, which has been excerpted ad nauseum throughout the Internets with next to no context? Captain Obvious said Hip Hop music way better in the '90s because it was "way more grounded than it is today. Today, you don't feel the movement. Back then, you felt the movement." Agreed! But not only that. When artists back then rapped about straight-up bullsh** they did it with ten times the panache, creativity, and effort than anyone right now. But we've been saying that forever. The sad part is that this might come across as sour grapes from Meth, whose latter albums failed to perform as nicely as his debut, and people will use that to undermine his statement and continue to make excuses for the garbage popular Hip Hop of today.
Method Man would later go on to point out that water is wet and salt is salty. [DEX]
With this year's gold medal Olympians being treated like rock stars, and after some of them 
Rocky had "Eye of the Tiger." Hell, even Popeye had the spinach theme song. You know, the one song that is needed before one competes. The one that makes you go a few extra miles on the treadmill. The one that gets you focused and ready to take on all comers. What is it? The "hype" song, of course. From "The Star Spangled Banner" to "Chariots of Fire," the hype song has been around about as long as the Olympiad. However, now that golden boy swimmer Michael Phelps revealed last week that Lil Wayne's "I'm Me" stays on repeat as he prepares for his events (and then went on to win eight. gold. medals!), it's been proven that most athletes would rather sway to hip hop's swagger than carry around a patriotic torch song. 
Proving once again that it continues to have relevance among a public for whom "old school" means "last year," the VH1's Hip Hop Honors is set to roll out the red carpet for its 2008 honorees this October 7th. 
El Todd the Sex God's Def Jam swan song is named after the most unlucky number in the world. It's called Exit 13 and is meant to be released on 8/26, about two years after it was originally intended. 50 Cent is involved in some executive capacity. And this recently revealed cover depicts some sort of bedlam unleashed upon the world. Does this mean LL is going out with a bang? Who knows? The only thing we can surmise from this apocalyptic artwork is that perhaps He of the Mighty Pecs wants to remind the Hip Hop world that he still has some fight in him, and his microphone can still bust this game wide open, with some prayer and a few special effects. After the bounce, check out a vintage interview with Uncle L in which he says he'd rather rap about being a lover as opposed to making songs about the ghetto and doing "message rap."
J Dilla was never the type of producer to make a couple of hot tracks then rest on his laurels; the cat stayed in the studio, churning out beat after beat with each one sounding nothing like the one that came before it. He passed in 2006, but left behind a dense collection of unheard work. His brother John "Illa J" Yancey, 12 years James' junior, is set to release his own album, fortified by Dilla's beats. What inspired the project was some unreleased Dilla material recorded during the production of The Pharcyde's Labcabincalifornia, passed to Illa by Delicious Vinyl founder, Michael Ross. The project, which should largely be considered a collaboration rather than a solo album, is serendipitous since it will be released on Delicious Vinyl, the same label that released Labcabincalifornia. No word on the name yet, but we'll keep you posted. In the meantime, check out the video for "Won't Do," starring Illa as Dilla after the bounce.
